Poration



Aug. 23, 1932. c p v s, JR 1,873,188

IGNITION APPARATUS Filed Sept. 14. 1931 FORWARD 0f! VERSE k 37 45/ 27 40 %,-2o 4 2 43 45' I I I Zlwuentoz Patented Aug. 23, 1932 UNITED STATES CHARLES HALL DAVIS, JR, or ANDERSON, IIIDIANA, rss'mmmomm anm oon- PORATION, or ANDERSON, INDIANA, aoonrona'rronor DELAWARE IGNITION I Application filed September i4, 1:9s1.*; 'seii' 1 n05 562,657.

This invention relates to ignition apparatus for internal combustion engines and more It is one of the objects of the invention to control the ignition for forward or re-' verse operation of the engine as well as to engine.

Further objects and advantages of the pres- 5 ent invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing wherein a preferred embodiment of one form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawing:

The figure of the drawing is a wiring diagram illustrating a form of the invention.

Referring to the drawing, 20 designates a shaft which is driven by the engine at onehalf cycle speed, namely, one-half engine speed for a two-cycle engine or one-fourth engine speed for a four-cycle engine. The shaft 20 drives a cam 21 having lobes numbering twice the number of engine cylinders for example, six lobes for a three-cylinder engine. The cam 21 cooperates with rubbing blocks 22 and 32 attached together with leaf spring conductors 23 and 33 respectively, to circuit breaker levers 24 and 34 respectively, carrying contacts 25 and 35 respectively,

which cooperate with contacts 26 and 36 re spectively, the latter being grounded. The leaf spring conductors 23 and 33 serve to urge the respective circuit breaker levers toward the cam 21, and to conduct current from terminals 27 and 37 respectlvely. Wires 28 and 38 respectively, connect terminals 27 and 37 respectively, with switch contacts 29 and 39 respectively. Contacts 29 and 39 are engageable by a movable contact 40 pivoted at 41 and connected with ignition coil primary winding 42 connected with battery 43 grounded at 44. A condenser 45 connects switch contact 40 with ground and thereby shunts either pair of interrupter contacts 35, 36 or 25, 26 depending on the position of the switch con tact 40.

The ignition coil secondary winding is grounded through the battery 43 and is connected to the central terminal 51 of the disdistributor-posts 53-, each connected with an engine spark-'plug54. The central contact 51 is electrically connected with a rot0r 55 tributor head 52 c rrying hree equidistant?- driven by'the shaft 20 and having arms-Rh,

' and R2, which operate alternately to disrender the ignition inoperative to stop the I Assuining that 21 rotates clockwise when the engine is operating'in' the=direction; 5

to propel the vehicle-orboat forward,ibefore startingthe engineythe operator moves" the switch contact 40 into the forward posi- 1 tion in which it is connected with' oontact 39, thereby rendering the interrupteniriclud-z ing contacts 35 and 36, operative to control the timing of the ignition for the engine when running in the forwarddirection. hen it is desired to reverse the engine, the

switch-contact 40 i's-moved into.oft positionww to'cause' the'engine to *stop and'the switch contact 40 is movedintothe reverse position in which it moves to contact 29, thereby rendering the circuit interrupter-havingcontacts 25 and '26 operative to control the tim-.-';. ing of theignition in'the reverse direction. In case the-engine has been stopped, it is, of course, necessaryto crank the engine in the reversedirection toget it started.- 'However, it' islpossibletoc'ause the engine to reverse after operating in the forward direction without stopping the engine before'reversingtakes pl-ace.- This is {accomplished by moving the contact 40 from forward position into foftposition to allow the en-o L gine to slow down. The lever 40 is then moved into reverse position just as one of y the pistons is approaching upper-dead center,

whereupon the engine starts operating in the reverse direction.

Since the condenser 45 is connected with the switch contact 40, it serves either of the circuit interrupters depending on which one is active in the circuit.

By providing two circuit interrupters, one" practice heretofore to employ a single interrupter to control the ignition for a reversible engine. In order to provlde for ignition when the engine operates in the reverse direction, the practice has been to shift the circuit interrupter bodily around the cam in ordertto obtain-the correct spark timing for engine reversal. Since the distributor head is mounted upon the support of the interrupter, the di-stributor are bodily moved relative' to thedistributor-- rotors Hence, it was necessary heretofore to pro- 1 I vide the rotor arms with unusually wide arc uate projections extendinginproximity to the distributor posts in order that the rotor armscould serve ,to distribute sparking .im- 1iPl1lSS ineither di rection of rotation of the rotor. Unless the distributor head were made unusually largeiin diameter, aicross-fire bedfzoi tween distributor posts was likely to occur .dueto-.the presence. 0f- -a rotor vof unusual V width. z This objectionZ is overcome in the present invention since it permits the use of a rotor: arms of; :OOIIVBIltiOIlfilr idth which elimin'ates -the- ,.possibi lity of cross-fire 'between 'thedistributoripostsi11- i I Themeansforcontrolling-the amount of spark 'advanc'e-or-retard has not been shown as such; means is welllmown tothose skilled 31-30 in this art. :-It. will be understood that'when -thez engine is reversed some adjustment of spark timing may be necessary because what- ,oever setting would give-an-advanced spark for forward rotation of the engine would give a'retarded spark for reverse rotation.

While the. form of embodiment of the present invention as; herein'disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming 40 within the scope of the claim which follows.

i l/Vhat is claimedis as follows: i v Ignition apparatus'for a reversible internal combustion engine comprising, in combination, an ignition timer including an interrupterfor ,forward rotation of the engine and aninterrupter for'reverse' rotation of r the engine,-a singlecam for operating the interrupters, adistributor comprising a head a and rotor driven with the cam and so located as to distribute properly in conjunction. with either interrupter, a'coil having a secondary connected with the distributor and having a primary, a current-source, and means for selectively connecting the primary with the current source through either interrupter.

In testimony whereof I hereto afii'x my signature.

CHARLES HALL DAVIS, JR. 

